Softball Season Off To A Decent Start

Well, as disorganized as our softball team seems to be, we are off to a decent start. Thankfully, this year the church league was divided into lower and upper leagues. Since our summer season put us in the lower half of the standings, we will be a winning team simply due to the competition we face. Hopefully, things will be better organized soon and we will actually have some practices and set lineups. We've had one actual hitting practice and certainly need more. I'm hoping we can get two practices in before we play next week on Thursday. I'm not the coach this year, but pitching the second game of each double header.

Some of the problems this year stem from Spring starting late. We haven't had the best weather to get out and have practices. We should have started practicing a month ago on any good day we could. The season also crept up on the coaches. It has been on the website for quite some time as to how things will go this season, but I'm not sure they visit the site. We have enough players that we should have also had two complete teams entered this year. This would have allowed the players who want to compete to gather on one team and the ones that want to play for fun on the other. Last year the church paid for the season so nobody had an investment into the outcome of the games during the summer season. This year they are asking that we pay for it ourselves in addition to only playing half the games. That's a nutty idea, but most people went along with it. It's my hope that the church does kick in the money and reimburses us for this. For the fall season, that should be for the competitive players and we will be glad to pay for it since we are going to play for a trophy.

At least we are winning. I umpired the first game last Thursday as we won 16-9. I pitched the second game and recorded several strikeouts, which was great, but surprising. I went 0-4 at bat hitting only one where I wanted to, but it was caught by a very fast shortstop. All four were caught in the air. I'm sure batting practice will put me back into form as I had the highest batting average in the fall season last year. We lost that game 9-1 against a team that isn't really that good. We just weren't hitting. We won both games last night. I umpired the first game and we lost by two, 8-6. Again I pitched the second game which we won 10-6. I was 2-3 at bat since they batted me 10th. I'm not sure why you put your most consistent person who gets on base at the bottom of the lineup. Maybe it was due to the performance last week, but it still stung. Hopefully, these things will be straightened out soon and some consistency will creep in. At least we are in the easy win division and should finish in first.

Freakin' Cars

More car woes. Is this a pattern, or what? I left work Monday evening and headed south to softball practice. I'm in the right hand lane of a four lane road with plenty of room in front of me and plenty of room behind me. To my left, there were several cars stopping for someone to make a left hand turn. I'm not sure if someone stopped too soon or what but this young girl felt the need to swerve into my lane to avoid rear ending someone. I was just almost right next to her as she did this and I had to dive for the curb to avoid her. I hit that curb hard, swerved back into my lane and a bit in front of the person turning, straightened out the car and pulled into the nearest gas station. I jumped out of the car furious and looked back up the street. The girl who forced me off the road saw me look her direction and then pulled into the right lane and came down to where I had stopped. She got out and apologized right away. I was so ticked that I didn't even acknowledge her except to ask her if she had an insurance card. From what I gathered over the next half hour she was driving a car for her dad that he had just worked on back to him. Her dad pulled into the lot just minutes behind us. I used his cell to call in the claim and got all of their information. Fortunately, the car runs fine. It looks like it just needs passenger side wheels, tires, and hubcaps. It also feels like it needs an alignment. They better have it done tomorrow as I need it after work. I'm still ticked that this sort of thing keeps happening to me no matter what car I own. It's happened to every single vehicle that I've ever owned.

I got into a conversation through e-mail about my misfortune owning a car. I surprised myself with my thinking, but I'm not sure what it means. Here are some quotes. Mine are in red and my friend's comments are in blue.

"This unexpected type of stuff just grates on my nerves as I'm sure it does yours. Wouldn't it be nice if that stuff just didn't happen to us? You'd think that life could roll right along just fine without these minor inconveniences. It's not like we learn any great lesson that will change our lives from it. All it does is cost us the time and money. Those types of things do make me frustrated with whatever God has in store for me. All the time and money I would have saved at this point in my life sure would be nice to have. All these things do is try my patience a bit and make me realize that being very wealthy would take care of any of those costs. It's still a waste of time and money, but if the money was provided in abundance I think it wouldn't tick me off so much."

"As for these things we should be learning from all the inconveniences of life...I think you answered that one yourself" She highlighted my words "frustrated", "try my patience", and "it wouldn't tick me off so much". "Just in case you didn't get the point...God just MIGHT be saying...TRUST ME...take a breath...calm down...and TRUST ME!"

"And what does patience bring? We have no choice but to be patient. There isn't any other choise we have in the matter so patience isn't learned; it's demanded. Is it wrong to be frustrated that it seems like God picks on me occasionally when it comes to having a perfectly running vehicle for any length of time? Is God really trying to tell me that I shouldn't have a car or something? That would be ridiculous. Is He trying to tell me anything at all relaing to me constantly having these stupid inconveniences that ONLY waste my time and money? There isn't anything to learn. There is no great lesson. There is simply no reason behind this stuff whatsoever. That's the stupid part I wish God would just leave me alone about. These stupid little minor things are things that I don't need, want, or require in my life and I wish He'd just cut it out. Yes, that's how frustrated I get. I know He's involved in my life so why would He allow such stupid things to happen when I have other things, more important things, to do? We get along great when He stays out of my transportation issues. Just let the freakin' car run, keep people and animals away from me, and I will take care of the maintenance. Sheesh. It's like it's too much to ask or something. Shouldn't prayer be used for more important things than struggling with God to just let me have a car that works every day, all the time, without inconvenience? It's not like I'm asking for billions of dollars, even though I do ask for that, too. I'm a simple guy who just needs a car to run since this world requires it."

"Maybe the lesson is to be THANKFUL for the blessings you DO have rather than gripe about the inconveniences...who knows...maybe in the midst of all this, you just might meet the "Ms. Right" that you have been looking for...she might be the secretary at a garage that you have not used before or maybe even the mechanic...(now THAT would be a blessing!!)

Now...as for "the stupid part that I wish God would just leave me alone about" I think you might be a bit misguided...GOD is not bugging you...GOD is getting you through it...SATAN on the other hand is the master at being a pain in the butt...make sure you focus your frustration at the right entity! You can curse Satan - even aloud - and he has no choice but to back off - especially if you mean it...God wants you to stand WITH Him, not against Him!

You asked a question in your ranting but unfortunately you asked the wrong one...You asked, "why would He allow such stupid things to happen when I have other things, more important things, to do?" The problem is this...WHERE IS YOUR FOCUS?? I know I'm preaching, but let me tell you something from experience...what you deem as important may not be what GOD is considering important. Now, don't go ruffling your feathers, because I AM NOT saying that your girls are not important. They SHOULD be the most important thing in your life after God...but as for all the other "more important things" you might want to evaluate if they are really as important as you make them out to be. Maybe God wants you to carpool for a bit...could be that there is someone He wants you to talk to...maybe someone needs you to help THEM to see HIM...have you recently asked God what important things He wants you to do for HIM??? Get out of your self centered "ME" mode and go at this with a different point of view...I bet you find something much better than "woe is me...I have car problems again" to look at!

"Funny thing is that I'd have more to be thankful for if these things didn't waste my time and money. And I won't be remarrying...not even a girl in a garage.

Satan doesn't move cars ni front of me and neither does God. When these things happen, God does allow it. Satan plays mind games and he's a loser that can't control physical things like that. I know who makes the world spin. Shoot, God didn't need to enter into this gamve of the Human Race with Satan. He could have just spoke it and Satan would have been gone. God created the angels so He can take that away, too. It's not like He had to create this place to put Satan in his place.

As for what is important, yes, I get to determine that. It's called free will and God gave that to us. Yes, my focus was getting to sofball practice quickly and safely. That didn't happen and it wasn't due to my focus on anything. Transportation is ONLY important for my girls and my job. That's it. I don't need it for anything else and I don't even need it for most concerts I go to. I get to pick the imporant things and I've deemed that it is VERY important that my car run any time I use it. There isn't any carpool for me to join; it's the inconvenience of getting rides from roommates. I can talk to them any time without having to have car trouble to do it. The last mechanic I got in touch with ripped me off and cost me the last car I had so there wasn't anything to learn there.

I am allowed to be and don't mind being self centered. It's a good life. Seriously. Also, I have asked God what the deal is with all this and it keeps piling on at the most inconvenient times. He doesn't have any great plan for me. Just the usual be a good person, do your job, stay out of trouble, bla, bla, bla... I'm not going to be a preacher or some great singer. I'm not going overseas to do mission work. The best I can do is set an example at work, which I do try, help others, which is my job that I enjoy, and be a good dad. That's pretty much all I'm cracked up to do in this life and it's fine. Allowing me to have constant car problems isn't going to push me in any direction for ministry of any sort. I'm not bummed about not having a "greater calling". I honestly don't care and am very content in many ways.

I'm not angry about this stuff, but I can't see the sense in it and wish it would stop. I'm not doing anything wrong with the car and I'm not doing anything wrong with my money. I just could use a lot more of it. My focus is fine. My life is fine. Just leave my freakin' transportation alone already is what I'm sayin'!

Does that make sense? I'm not bitter about anything except that I wish I could have a set of wheels that runs all the time for more than just a few months. It's been this way my entire adult life since my first car. This Toyota is my baby when I bought it because I knew it would last forever for me and get great mileage. Twelve days after I buy it a deer runs out in the road. Now a car swerves in front of me. I have done anything to deserve these stupid, stupid things."

"That was a PASSIONATE if not extremely LOGICAL view of life...You have such apathy...you really are bigger and better than you give yourself credit for...and I still say there IS a reason for your troubles...

I must say, I have never met anyone who was quite so content in their discontentment as you seem to be. By that I mean you are very happy to "verbalize" your frustrations...however directed I may think they are."

"Actually, I'm past middle age and don't expect to make it much past 50. That's just how Sites men are. My dad's generation is the first to make it past 60. My body is breaking down in a similar fashion to dad's. Unless I have a good woman keeping me healthy by encouraging me to get to a doctor (that means scheduling the appointment and making sure I get there) then I will be as lazy as I already am. Is it weird that the only thing I feel like I'm alive to do is see my girls every other weekend?

No, it's not a pity party. It's just a statement of fact that this is how my life is and as long as I have my (TV) shows and the occasional concerts that get me from week to week to see my girls, I'm content. It's weird how I went from wanting to save the world as a baseball player to trying to save the world as a rock singer to not caring if the world is saved or not as long as my girls are ok. Low expectations? Maybe. If so, then why the stupid disappointments of the automobile? HAHA!! When someone can answer that to my satisfaction, then I'm good."

It's an interesting view I found myself typing out yesterday. I'm not sure how much is bulls*** and how much is BS (me). It's still something I'm sorting through. The mind is a terrible thing...

Disneyland Trip

My daughters arrived back last night from their first visit to Disneyland. They actually spent a whole week in Florida at Daytona Beach and one of those days was Disneyland. I was able to see them today for a few hours. They showed me a few small entries they made in their journals about their trip. They also showed me some new outfits they bought. We cleaned off their sea shells. We played catch and they each took a turn hitting a softball in the yard. They had apparently had time this morning to make cinnamon rolls so I got to have one of them.

Apparently they spent most of their vacation swimming. They did do some sight seeing. It sounds like they had a lot of fun. I hope they get their pictures developed this week so I can see them this coming weekend.

I was really kind of hesitant about the whole trip even though I was very excited for them. The trip wasn't made with a parent, but two aunts. That never happened in my family growing up. It's one thing to visit family for a few days or grandparents for a week, but to let aunts take your kids to another state via airplane is a bit unsettling. It's not that they aren't responsible. It just seems weird to me since it never would have happened in my family. My family is very close, but a trip like that is something parents take their kids on. That's my opinion, but it may have changed a bit since this trip went so well.

The girls missed me, which felt good. I will be glad to have them visit the next two weekends in a row.

Firehouse In Cedar Rapids, IA

Last night was the first time I've seen Firehouse as a headliner. I know they have been in the area before with their own club show, but this is the first I've seen of it. I've always seen Firehouse as an opening band, whether it be on the Rock Never Stops tour with Quiet Riot, Slaughter, and Warrant or twice last year with Quiet Riot, Ratt, and Cinderella or at Waterstock 2004. The closest I'd seen them do a full set was Waterstock.

I went with a friend named Bonnie. She is the one that took those great Rock Never Stops pics in Cedar Rapids last year. When we arrived before 7:30, I expected us to pay $20 to get in per ticket. There was a married couple behind us with a tall friend. The tall friend had won two free tickets in a radio giveaway and didn't have anyone using them. She heard that Bonnie and I didn't have tickets and was nice enough to give them to us. I offered cash for them, but she just said to buy them each a beer. That was VERY cool, and they are getting these pictures today via e-mail.

Last night did not disappoint at all and they even through in a drum solo. Firehouse has always been the most professional band I've ever seen. They have the tightest sound and make sure they have a blend as close to the CD as possible. They kicked the show off with Helpless from their first CD and rocked right into Love Is A Dangerous Thing. They seemed a little surprised at how packed this tiny club was, but very appreciative to everyone. They did the harmony for All She Wrote and the crowd really got into singing along on this one. I was anxious to hear some of the new tunes and they kicked right into my favorite, Crash, followed by Holdin' On, which has such an eerie, yet catchy chorus. CJ Snare didn't miss a note and sang his backside off. Bill was just Mr. Cool on the guitar, shredding when he needed to and holding the rhythm and melody when the song called for it.

CJ moved behind the keyboard for When I Look Into Your Eyes. Yes, this song is on Monster Ballads, which he pointed out to us. Trying To Make A Living was a welcome addition to this night since I haven't heard them do this one before. I always like to hear something that I didn't expect. Door To Door from the new CD was another new song and I hadn't heard them do this live, either. Great song!

It was about this time in the set that we had a little trouble nearby up by the stage. There were a couple of great looking girls that were elbowing their way to the left and trying to move the ladies next to them. It turns out that one of them was nursing a broken collarbone, so this was not acceptible behavior at all. Security thankfully moved them out. Yes, they were eye candy, but must have thought they were high and mighty because of it.

The band kicked back into rockin' mode wtih Shake And Tumble and followed that up with Allen on bass and lead vocal for Highway To Hell. I hope they do another live CD sometime with this on it. The crowd went nuts and sang every word along with him. They rocked into Overnight Sensation with CJ coming out from behind the keys to get the crowd into this one. It's not like he had to try as everyone was packed tight and jamming right along.

They mellowed out to Love Of A Lifetime briefly before rocking out with Reach For The Sky and Don't Treat Me Bad. There was no way in this club to do the typical encore thing, so they just played right through. Great set, sound, and they pleased everyone who turned out. I think there was a bigger turnout for this than Stephen Pearcy's Metal In America two months ago.

I do have to take a moment to mention Michael's drum solo. He did what the great drummers do during a solo. He got the crowd into the rhythms. He didn't just show off some technical expertise and keep changing beats on us. He made sure we were clapping along at several parts during the solo. He didn't make it so long we got bored, but kept it just the right length to entertain us all. At the end of it, he was standing up and beating on those drums. Great job by a truly great drummer.

We were able to meet the band after the show at their meet and greet table. During the show, I lifted up my signed Prime Time CD cover and CJ grabbed it to show everyone the new CD was available and he commented that since mine was signed, it looked like I'd been to a show before. He said he'd mention more later in the set as to how to get everyone else's signed, too. We joked around at the table with Allen about the socks on the last Cedar Rapids stop, Mike about being a moose fighter (see Steph's blog for that picture), CJ about drinking more than what he had in his Aquafina bottle, and I mentioned that Bill seemed to be the only sober one at the last stop of Rock Never Stops. Bill quickly put that to rest as he admitted he just hid it better. It was great laughing with the guys while they were signing the set lists I got and a few of my CD covers since I took them all.

I know Firehouse gets a rap as an 80's hair band, but their debut came out in 1990. They have been able to make a living as musicians because they are professional, they make sure to meet anyone that wants to meet them, and they keep putting out great quality songs. I've got every CD and will buy every other one they put out, too. Get out and support these guys and keep buying new music from your favorite artists. Don't get stuck on just their old material. Bands like Firehouse really do this because they have an inborn need to do so and they will keep it up as long as we make it viable. I can't stress enough to get out and support these bands.

Concert Season

So many shows are coming up. It seems like it's going to be a better year than last for shows. There are some big tours happening and I'm hopeful to see more than last year. One addition to the bands I'm a fan of is a band my roommate considers his favorite...Live. I know Live had a few decent songs, but I'm not a post grunge type of guy. My roommate is a dozen years younger than I so it's his era. I'm going to go, though. He just received the tickets yesterday for the show on May 17th in Kansas City. I did sing a couple of their songs when performing with the band Weatherhead from KC. Live isn't bad so it will be interesting to see if this show makes me a bigger fan like Nine Inch Nails did.

I also have one major disappointment this year. The Poison tour is going to be in KC on July 22. It's great that it's on a Saturday night, but I'm spending that weekend with my family over on the St. Louis side of Mizzou and I will be at Journey/Def Leppard with my daughters on the 21st. I can't see having time to slip away on Saturday to go to KC for this show. I wish it was the following weekend or something. So if I'm going to miss that show, which I haven't since the tours started back up several years ago, then I'm going to try to see Poison 3 times the opening week of the tour. They will be at Steamboat Days in Burlington, here in Des Moines on June 17th, and in Sioux Falls on the 18th. Yes, that's one end of the state to the other for Poison. I've seen them twice on a tour the last tour they did before opening for Kiss, but this wll be the first year I've seen them 3 times on one tour. Now if I can just pull that off...


I'm very much looking forward to Waterstock this year and I'm going to get a top tier ticket, if I can, to run around backstage. Lazer didn't provide an autograph tent last year so I'm glad to have gotten the signatures and pictures that I did. This year, I hope to get them all and meet each member of Poison, if possible.

I'm surprised the Journey/Def Leppard tour isn't coming to Iowa, but thankful that I can take my girls to the show in St. Louis. That will be fun even if we are sitting on the lawn.

You'll see the reviews of each show I hit and all the pictures fit to print. Keep checking back as I should have reviews of Jackyl and Firehouse up this weekend.

Bad Timing

Have you ever run into someone at a certain point in your life that would be perfect for you...if they weren't already involved? It's frustrating when you both want it so bad, but know in your head it's not the right thing to do. I have a friend in that situation. It's certainly bad timing, but I can see where if both parties were single that it could be a wonderful thing.

It makes me wonder...is there only one person that you run into in your life who is what some term a "soul-mate"? I used to think there was that one special person you'd run across in your life and then you were out of luck if that didn't work out. I met the one girl I thought was my "soul-mate" (a term I'm hating more and more since it just logically doesn't make sense) when I was attending OCC. I would not have returned for the second semester if I hadn't met CLM. I was only with her for about a year with some time off a couple times in there. It just seemed like we were destined to be together with certain coincidences and other things that the relationship brought about. I was absolutely crushed and filled with guilt when it ended. There just seemed to be a connection that I can't explain. I wonder if I will ever experience that again in my life. At my age it does seem a bit hopeless, though.

I'm not sad about that, but a little wistful. It's not something I dwell on, but I do question it on occasion. The heart is a crazy thing and it does tend to get in the way of the brain. I would love to experience that specific rush of emotion again sometime in my life. Someday?

Daughter Duet

I got to see my daughters sing together for the first time at their mom's church tonight. My girls are really learning to sing and I think Brittany is really showing a lot of growth in her sense of pitch. I think it stems from her saxophone playing this year. Paige has always had her own style and a great tone. Both of them sound so good together.

Growing up, my lil brothers and I did a lot of singing. We started piano when I was 5 and really took off from there. We learned harmonies from singing tenor, alto, and bass parts. It was a natural blend and we sang together on up through high school. I'm hopeful that my daughters get to experience that as they grow up, too.

More Friends

I put up a My Space site (www.myspace.com/bigdaddylonghair) recently which just has some things copied from here. One benefit of it is that I keep in touch with some bands better since they post on there more frequently. I've also made some new aquaintences with that site. I hope to meet some of them at the concerts I hit.

I've also had some luck in the last year running into old friends. Sites like the Name Database and Classmates have been quite handy in that regard. Just met up with a friend from about 17 years ago this morning.

E-mail, blogging, chatting...it's all been great meeting and re-meeting all of these people.